Siemens Gamesa had the best of a tough 2020 for India’s wind power market, as the OEM took almost half of new installations in the worst year for turbine new-builds for a decade, said analysts at BloombergNEF.

India added just 1.1GW of new wind power last year, down from 2.4GW in 2019 as the market grappled with Covid disruptions, according to the research group’s latest market figures, although this year is predicted to see a quick bounce-back to 3.2GW of installations.

“All major manufacturers were under stress because of challenging market conditions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Bloomberg NEF associate Atin Jain, noting that some 2GW of project commissioning had been bumped from last year to 2021.

Siemens Gamesa had the best of what installations there were, with 532MW commissioned, and grew its market share to 48%. Last year was the second running that the Spanish-German OEM has taken top spot in India.

BloombergNEF said: “Lockdowns and other market challenges notwithstanding, Siemens Gamesa managed to deliver on its pipeline of projects much better than other turbine makers. The firm restructured its business units in India to cut down on the number of business activities in the country and changed its local and global leadership.”

Siemens Gamesa also introduced a new 3MW-plus turbine to the market last year in a bid to further strengthen its position.

GE came in second with 244MW installed in India last year, while Suzlon – India’s domestic champion and a former market leader – managed only 130MW and a 12% share, as it wrestled with the financial woes that crippled it operationally for more than a year. Another local player, Inox Wind, was Indian number four with 126MW.

Vestas found itself in the unaccustomed role of market laggard, with just 74MW installed in India by the global number-one. The Danish group also launched a new turbine into the market last year and is adding to its Indian manufacturing base as it bids to grow its share.

The overall picture was one of foreign OEMs tightening their grip on the market, commissioning 76% of all capacity, an increase of nine percentage points on 2020.

In developer terms, IPPs Renew Power, Sembcorp Green Infra, Alfanar and Adani Green Energy, accounted for 70% of the total installed capacity in 2020, said Bloomberg NEF.

New pressures

Gujarat was overwhelmingly the largest state for new wind last year, with 883MW of all turbines commissioned there.

The Covid challenges last year piled on top of pressures already afflicting the Indian wind market, such as land availability, grid challenges, and a painful transition from tariffs to auction, all of which have held back growth for four years in a nation with a 10GW annual manufacturing base that has been left heavily underused.

Wind power was officially passed by solar in January this year under the Indian government’s own figures, which put the former at 38.8GW compared to 38.7GW of turbines.

BloombergNEF earlier this week said it expects India to be one of the key growth markets in a booming global solar sector this year.

Both wind and solar are slated to play key roles in India's massive renewables ambitions, now focused around an aim to install 450GW by 2030.

Wind

Siemens Gamesa leads after dismal 2020 for Indian wind power